-- logo by Jin-a Yang

last updated April 2, 2008

Contents:

News of WIFP Associates

Most recent news: Carolyn LaDelle Bennett, Michael Honey, Maurine Beasley, JoAnn Huff Albers, Mal Johnson, Jan Zimmerman, Danna Walker, Carolyn M. Byerly, Kimberlie Kranich, Gertrude Robinson, Joy Simonson, Jo Freeman, Senay Ozdemir,Jin-A Yang, Haruko Watanabe, Margaret Johnston, Robin Morgan.

Websites of WIFP Associates

A Few of the Books by WIFP Associates

News of Associates:

Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

Dr Carolyn Bennett, author of Missing News & Views in Paranoid Times, has come out with another book! Women's Work and Works, Altering World Order, Alternatives to Spin and Inhumanity of Men was just released (2008).

In her introduction, Carolyn wrote: "The seed grew in the 1980s when a friend and founder of the Washington-based Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press said to me in one of many formal and informal talks that people who are wrongheaded or misguided in their actions are not bad people; they just don't have 'my information.' Dr. Donna Allen also said if you believe important information or history is missing from the public debate, you have a responsibility to supply that information. Indeed, Women's Work and Words has intended to do that."

A review of this valuable book will appear on this website.

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Dr. Michael Honey

Michael Honey, Professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma, is the winner of the 2008 Liberty Legacy Foundation Award for his book Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign. He came to Washington to speak, along with a slide and film presentation, including music, at the AFL-CIO on March 31.

Mike Honey's presentation

The book, Going Down Jericho Road, is a narrative of one of the most important and least told stories of the civil rights movement discusses the ways that the mass media distorted, inflamed, or ignored black labor and civil rights issues, leading to the 1968 strike in which Dr. King was murdered. The book traces how the African-American community created its own media through mass meeting, the black church, and the mass movement, finally changing the plantation mentality that ruled Memphis.

This account is a riveting, thorough, fascinating story that weaves history, politics, and social justice issues together seamlessly. It is the story of Memphis in 1968 when the civil rights struggle was focused on Dr. Martin Luther King and the sanitation workers who undertook a courageous strike due to dire conditions. It tells of those who worked hard to improve conditions and bring about justice, and those whose lives were affected. It is not the usual history of the top down. A refreshing account that seeks to bring hope and light to the events and conditions facing workers in Memphis, the over 500 pages keeps you pulled in. This is the way history should be told. (W.W. Norton & Company, NY, 2007)

Mike Honey came to Washington, DC and spoke at the Library of Congress and at Busboys and Poets on May 15, 2007.
Photo by Zenia Allen Zeitlin

Michael Honey's earlier books include Black Workers Remember, An Oral History of Segregation, Unionism, and the Freedom Struggle, (University of California Press, 1999) and Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights, Organizing Memphis Workers, (University of Illinois Press, 1993).

For Honey's 18-minute film, A Soldier's Duty?, on Lt. Ehren Watada's challenge to President Bush's Iraq occupation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ9sV3Nmwpg
Michael Honey, Professor, African-American, Ethnic and Labor Studies and American History, University of Washington, Tacoma, 1900 Commerce St., Tacoma, WA 98402.

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Dr. Maurine Beasley

Dr. Maurine Beasley

Maurine H. Beasley, professor of journalism at the University of Maryland, will receive the Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award at the AEJMC convention in August, 2008. We congratulate her and are thrilled that she has received this honor.

The Center for New Words has a wonderful interview with Maurine Beasley:

http://www.centerfornewwords.org/blog/2007/07/maurine_beasley_on_women_in_me.php#more

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JoAnn Huff Albers

JoAnn Huff Albers has donated her papers to the Women and Media Collection (NWMC) in Columbia, Missouri. Albers is director of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University and has served in numerous positions with media educational organizations, including a term as president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, the second woman to hold the position. Albers's papers document her involvement in many professional organizations such as the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications and Women in Communication.

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Mal Johnson

We are sad that Mal Johnson is no longer with us but I can't help remember how she used to speak of all the great women who went on to "feminist heaven." Well that certainly would be where Mal is right now.

The Life of Mal Johnson Celebrated: A Tribute and Memorial to Her Life and Accomplishments

November 30, 2007

National Press Club
First Amendment Lounge
Washington, D.C.

Mal Johnson began her career as a television reporter at the former WKBS-TV in Philadelphia. The first female reporter hired by Cox Radio and Television News, she moved to Washington and traveled the world over the course of her 27 years with the company.

As Cox’s White House correspondent, Mal covered five presidents, Capitol Hill, the State Department and various federal agencies. Upon her retirement, Mal established a consulting firm, Medialinx International.

Mal dedicated her time to women's rights, and freedom of expression in the United States and around the world. She served on many boards, including all of the host organizations. She was a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Host Organizations:
National Council of Women’s Organizations
Communications Consortium Media Center
U.S. Committee for UNIFEM
International Association of Women in Radio and Television

__________

The following is a release from the National Council of Women's Organizations where Mal was very in recent years. They have set up a "Sistership Program" in her honor.

NCWO Mourns the Loss of Pioneering Journalist and Feminist Leader Mal Johnson

October 30, 2007, Washington, DC – The National Council of Women’s Organizations is deeply saddened by the passing of Mal Johnson on Sunday, October 28. Ms. Johnson served on NCWO’s Executive Committee and chaired its Global Issues Task Force, where she was an exceptionally effective liaison for women’s rights to embassies from around the world. Ms. Johnson also edited NCWO’s recent publication, 50 Ways to Improve Women’s Lives: The Essential Women’s Guide to Achieving Equality, Health and Success.

Mal Johnson began her career as a television reporter at the former WKBS in Philadelphia. The first female reporter hired by Cox Radio and Television News, she moved to Washington and traveled the world over the course of her 27 years there. As Cox’s White House correspondent, Ms. Johnson covered five presidents as well as Capitol Hill, the State Department, and various Federal agencies. In 1980, she was promoted to Senior Washington Correspondent and assigned additional duties as National Director of Community Affairs.

In addition to her leadership role at the National Council, Ms. Johnson served on many boards, including the International Association of Women in Radio & Television and the Communications Consortium Media Center. She was a founding member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the National Broadcast Association for Community Affairs. She is the former National Chair of the American Women in Radio and Television Foundation. Inducted into the Journalists Hall of Fame in 2000, a television documentary of her life is in the archives of the History Makers of America. Upon her retirement, Ms. Johnson established a consulting firm, Medialinx International, and pursued a career as a volunteer leader for women’s rights, especially for women of color and international women.

NCWO Chair Susan Scanlan noted that, “The National Council of Women’s Organizations—and the world—has lost an important piece of our history. Even as an octogenarian and challenged by illness, Mal never retired from the fight for feminism and fairness. She was a dignified and forceful leader who inspired so many young women, especially women of color. For that reason, we are pleased to announce the creation of the Mal Johnson Sistership Program to provide a paid fellowship, or “sistership,” for young women of color at NCWO. How proud and delighted Mal would be to hand a deserving young woman the opportunity to participate in public policymaking at its source!”

Thanks go to Ms. Johnson’s many friends, especially Tesa Leon, for suggesting this leadership development initiative in her honor. More information on NCWO’s Mal Johnson Sistership Program will be provided at an upcoming press conference and memorial ceremony to be announced soon.
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The National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of more than 230 women's organizations across the nation collectively representing over eleven million women. Since 1983, NCWO has convened the leadership of major women's organizations dedicated to focusing on national and international issues and public policy agendas affecting women and girls.

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Jan Zimmerman

Jan Zimmerman, WIFP Associate since 1977, is the author of the book Web Marketing For Dummies. To purchase a copy, go to http://www.watermelonweb.com/book.htm, or to your favorite independent bookstore.

Jan is the owner of Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing " one of the very few Internet marketing companies with solid grounding in the basics of running a profitable business, from strategic planning to Web policy development." See http://www.watermelonweb.com/index.html

About Web Marketing For Dummies:

Develop a plan, build a marketing-effective site, and create word-of-Web campaigns. Launching a Web site for your product or service does not automatically ensure sales success. This book provides the know-how for creating a solid Web marketing plan, including how to build a site that draws and keeps visitors. Then add proven strategies like search engine optimization and link campaigns, and measure your results. Successful Web marketing techniques — all within your budget. Discover how to:

Make your site search engine friendly
Close a sale on your site
Drive traffic to your site
Create an online marketing plan
Take advantage of guerilla marketing
Maximize your marketing dollars

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Dr. Danna Walker

Danna Walker published an article in the Spring 2007 issue of American Journalism, A Journal of Media History entitled "They Had a Satellite and They Knew How to Use It: How Donna Allen Led Women to the Forefront of the Technological Revolution in Communication." Danna Walker is still at CBS and teaching at American University. She is an adjunct associate professor in residence and the James B. Simpson Fellow in the School of Communication at American University.

Dr. Carolyn M. Byerly

Carolyn M. Byerly, Howard University's Department of Journalism, received a grant in the amount of $8,150 in June 2007 from the Shorenstein Center at Harvard Univesity, to conduct a baseline study on women owners of broadcast stations in the United States. The funds are derived from the Carnegie-Knight Foundation.

Carolyn M. Byerly has been tenured at the rank of associate professor in the Department of Journalism, John H. Johnson School of Communications, Howard University, Washington, DC. She joined the Howard faculty in 2004. She teaches graduate-level courses in mass communication theory, research methods, media effects, political communication, and research writing. She completed her MA and PhD degrees at the University of Washington, Seattle, and her BS at University of Colorado.

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Kimberlie Kranich

Kimberlie Kranich, board member and Associate of WIFP, launched her blogging adventures in July 2007. Entitled "How Big My Human Heart Can Get," her blog details experiences in which she learns kindness, generosity and inner serenity from her personal relationships and lessons from others. Kimberlie's blog can be viewed at http://howbigmyhumanheartcanget.blogspot.com/.

Dr. Gertrude Robinson

Gertrude J. Robinson is an emeritus professor and past director of the Graduate Program in Communications at McGill University, Montreal where she was involved in the institutionalization of the Canadian field. At McGill she helped set up the first Canadian Ph.D.; then became the first female president of the Canadian Communication Association and subsequently the first female editor of the Canadian Journal of Communication.

Robinson received a BA "magna cum laude" in philosophy and political science from Swarthmore College, an MA in philosophy from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in communications from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

Honors and awards include: Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa Tau Alpha, Dodi Robb Award (Media Watch); Canadian Who's Who (1998); Dictionary of International Biography (Cambridge 26th Ed); YWCA Women of the Year Award in Communication (2001); Aubrey Fisher Mentorship Award , ICA (2004).

Robinson has published nine books and more than fifty articles in national and international journals. They include: Constructing the Quebec Referendum: French and English Media Voices (1998); Women and Power: Canadian & German Experiences (1990); News Agencies and World News: Methods and Data (1981) and Tito's Maverick Media: The Politics of Mass Communication in Yugoslavia (1977).

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Joy Simonson

Joy Simonson, 1919 - 2007

WIFP Associate Joy Simonson died June 24th. This is a notice from the National Council of Women's Organizations in which she was active.:

The National Council of Women’s Organizations salutes one of our own: Joy Simonson, feminist foremother, educational equity pioneer, and former NCWO steering committee member, who died on June 24th at age 87.

Joy was a fearless fighter for women’s rights, particularly on behalf of Title IX. She served as executive director of the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs (NAWEP) from 1975 to 1982, preparing some of the first reports on women's studies, sexual harassment, and the first edition of the Handbook for Achieving Sex Equity through Education. NAWEP was a Presidentially-appointed body that advised Congress and federal officials on educational equity for women and girls. In 1982, Reagan appointees to the Council removed Ms. Simonson from her position because of her support for the Equal Rights Amendment. Her firing became a cause celebre and a rallying cry for the women's movement.

A proud graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Joy Simonson served as chairman of the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board from 1964 to 1972, the first woman to hold that position; chief hearing examiner for the D.C. Rent Commission; Assistant Director of the Federal Women's Program of the U.S. Civil Service Commission; president of the D.C. League of Women Voters; vice president of Executive Women in Government; and was the founder of the D.C. Commission for Women. From 1982 to 1990, she worked as an oversight investigator for the House Employment and Housing Subcommittee. She covered such issues as occupational safety and health, child labor, and delays by the EEOC in process-ing age discrimination cases. At her retirement, Joy was the oldest staff member in the House of Representatives.

In 1992, Joy was elected to the District of Columbia Women's Hall of Fame.

Many of us remember how Joy, a tiny woman with perfect posture, was always the most meticulously attired person in any room. She was one of the stalwarts we counted on: she never turned down a request to speak, always showed up for every meeting; enthusiastically promoted the work of her own and other organizations; and was a thoughtful and generous friend to generations of feminists.

There will be a memorial service for Joy Simonson on July 22 at the Women's National Democratic Club in Washington DC. Her daughter and sons have asked that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Older Women’s League (OWL), where Joy was a long and devoted Board member.

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Jo Freeman

"The Women Who Ran for President" is now on Jo Freeman's website: http://www.jofreeman.com/politics/womprez03.htm
Be sure to take a look.

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Senay Ozdemir

Senay Ozdemir, WIFP Associate who joined us in 2007, is the Editor in Chief and founder of SEN Magazine, a magazine that advocates for young women of Islamic background living in the Netherlands. SEN Magazine, which Ozdemir founded in March 2004, features successful Mediterranean women such as lawyers, artists, engineers, and businesswomen as well an advice column, which contains very serious and modern concerns of Mediterranean Islamic women. Seven months after it was launched, SEN was elected "Best New Magazine of 2004" by De Volkskrant, one of the leading newspapers in the Netherlands. By 2005, SEN's monthly circulation reached 20,000 issues, and in 2006 the magazine expanded into Belgium. The magazine made the switch from print to an entirely online publication in January 2007 and can be accessed at www.senmagazine.com. The content of the website is primarily in Dutch.

Senay Ozdemir is a former television producer and presenter. She founded Medusa Media productions in 2003 and was a columnist for several women's magazines. She now manages the staff of editors, directors, designers, photographers and writers.

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Jin-A Yang

Jin-A has been to Cambodia on a project working toward the eradication of illiteracy. Her organization began a small library project in three countries: Nepal, Cambodia and Russia. She has been very interested in improving conditions in developing countries. This year Jin-A has returned to school doing graduate work in public policy. Even though it is always a challenge to study and work together, she is enjoys studying again.

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Haruko Watanabe

Haruko Watanabe said she is enjoying the busiest time of her life as a journalist. For the past decade, she has covered both press and social functions as both vice president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) and as a chairperson of its various committees. In her current position of Chairperson of the Special Project Committee, Wantanabe organizes press tours and theater visits to help correspondents find feature story material in and out of Tokyo.

Watanabe also writes two columns published on the Web site for Rosettastone Magazine, “From the Window of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club,” and “I Love Ballet and Musicals.” She said that her articles are well-received by readers who want more than straight reporting and/or theater reviews.

As the president of House of World Cultures (HKW), Watanabe has been organizing media dinners as follow-ups to media seminars of the 2000 Japan Global Forum in New York.  She also writes for Media Report to Women (MRTW) as a Tokyo correspondent. An article she wrote about the Tokyo International Women’s Film Festival will be published in the next issue of MRTW.

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Margaret Johnston

Margaret Johnston’s work is featured in a new book by Krista Jacob, “Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges of Facing Choice.” Jacob, a 10-year counselor to victims of rape and domestic violence, discusses the imminent extinction of nationwide abortion rights. She shows how abortion rights are closely entwined with political issues like minimum wage, affordable healthcare, education, birth control methods, religion and basic human rights. The perspectives in the book illustrate that human thoughts and emotions have multiple dimensions, even if there may only be two sides to the same coin.

Johnston titled her essay, “We Have Met the Enemy, and He/She is Us,” after the famous Walt Kelly Pogo cartoon. She writes that each person can make some shifts that will greatly de-stigmatize abortion. She reframes the abortion experience as “lucky” in the wisdom about life that it has the potential to bring to one’s consciousness. Along with Johnston’s essay, Jacob’s book also features articles from Amy Richards, Jennifer Baumgardner, Rebecca Traister, Frances Kissling and Gloria Feldt. You can view and purchase “Abortion Under Attack” at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781580051859&itm=1

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Robin Morgan

Robin Morgan has a Dec. 20, 2007 article entitled "The Four Solstice Miracles" on the Women's Media Center website. Go to: http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/122007.html

Robin Morgan has another book out: FiGHTING WORDS: A ToolKit for Combating the Religious Right (Nation Books/Avalon Publishing, 2006).

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